Learn the 3 Components of an Effective Golf Swing

By Tim Hathaway

How the heck do I swing a golf club properly? That's what goes through a lot of people's mind when they first take up the game of golf. Let's face it, a proper golf swing is not a natural movement and many golfers struggle with it, even golfers that have been playing the game for years. So how do you develop a consistent, quality golf swing?

If you can narrow down all the rules and techniques involved in a golf swing to a few key components, you'll find it a lot easier to swing the golf club effectively. One of the biggest problems most people face when learning a new skill, whether it's golf, baseball, basketball, or anything else that involves a number of different 'rules.'

Your mind focuses on all these different things, making it very difficult for you to turn those rules into reality. For golf, you're talking about grip, stance, wrist cock, arm extension, shoulder turn, and on and on.

By whittling this down to a few key components of a golf swing, you'll free your mind up from all these different tips, so you can focus on what's really important which is the golf swing itself.

By breaking it down into backswing, downswing, and follow through and focusing on one at a time it will make it a lot easier to produce a good golf swing.

Backswing

The backswing is one fluid motion. Focus on bringing your club back with arm extension, trying to keep your front arm as straight as possible. This will naturally force your body rotation. Let it happen. If you can do this, you'll have a consistent, smooth backswing.

Downswing

The downswing starts with your legs. Your body has naturally rotated due to your backswing. It has coiled itself. Now let it naturally uncoil, transferring your weight from back to front.

Follow Through

When the club face impacts the ball, the club face should form a straight line with the forward arm. Your weight, as your body uncoils, should naturally transfer to your front foot. Your wrists should rotate over, which brings the club face square to the ball at impact.

There are a lot of factors involved in a proper golf swing, even when trying to break it down to the barest of the fundamentals. However, you have to start somewhere. Keeping things as simple as possible in the beginning will keep you from getting overwhelmed with all that's involved in a good golf swing.

Avid golfer and freelance writer Tim Hathaway writes about ways to improve your golf game for Golf Tips Made Easy where you can find more free golf articles and grab a free report, "Your Perfect Golfing Vacation."

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